Find out how storm surge could impact your community

Monday

HOUMA -- Ever since Hurricane Rita exposed local vulnerabilities from even distant storms, many local officials have speculated about the damage a similar storm would inflict if it made landfall here.

Terrebonne and Lafourche residents can see how the associated storm surge could flood their communities and learn how to prepare themselves during a series of demonstrations being held over the next three weeks.

"The Next Storm Surge," a talk and exhibit focusing on local risk, is hosted by the LSU AgCenter and Louisiana SeaGrant. Itís free and open to the public.

At each, experts will discuss hurricane vulnerability, flood zones, storm-surge models and how the surge from hurricanes Katrina and Rita washed over coastal parishes.

The presentation, which draws standing-room crowds, was created after Hurricane Rita to help parishes in the western part of the state understand their increasing risk to storm-related flooding.

"People really wanted to know more about what their risk was. Theyíd been through Rita and past hurricanes, but they understood that their risk had changed," said Louisiana Sea Grant Marine Extension Agent Thomas Hymel.

The team will present storm-surge models that take Hurricane Rita down paths threatening to Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, Hymel said.

"This is sort of a reality check on living in coastal Louisiana," Hymel said.

"A lot of folks donít really believe that some of the communities are as vulnerable as they are, but we have water coming near Thibodaux in some of these models," he said. "This will be information a lot of people have never seen before."

In one dramatic display, officials take an aerial photo of the parish and use computer modeling to show which areas will flood and how deep the water could get.

The maps used include landmarks to give locals a more grounded perspective on how the flooding will affect their communities, said Roy Kron, an AgCenter spokesman.

Though his initial goal was to help the agriculture industry assess damage and lobby for state and federal relief, the maps caught the interest of the insurance industry, homeowners and schools.

Hymel decided to use the data as an educational tool to demonstrate the damage that could have occurred if Ritaís storm surge had been large or had a greater impact in parishes like Terrebonne or Lafourche.

The AgCenter disaster recovery and mitigation group will also provide information on rebuilding and repairing homes to make them stronger and more resistant to flood, wind and rain.

There will be a series of flood maps that will remain up in the library for residents who canít attend the presentation, added Hymel.

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